Nothing to laugh about

We expected the Tar Heel State to be the butt of jokes with the release of a new film, “Bad Grandpa.” The movie, filmed mostly in Charlotte, is about the outrageous things a grandfather does during a road trip from Lincoln, Neb., to Raleigh after his wife dies.

But that movie, full of make-believe buffoonery, can’t top the real-life antics of a political operative from Buncombe County who was interviewed on “The Daily Show” last week.

When Buncombe County GOP executive committee member Don Yelton was deep into calling blacks “lazy,” revealing he had shared a Facebook portrayal of Barack Obama as a witch doctor, and acknowledging the controversial voting law changes N.C. lawmakers pushed through this year were designed to “kick the Democrats in the butt,” “Daily Show” interviewer Aasif Mandvi posed this question: “You know that we can hear you, right?”

“The Daily Show” is a fake news show with fake reporters, and the program mostly aims for laughs — though it is seared with liberal political commentary and satire. But Yelton seemed to be playing it straight. He said the law was fine with him. “If it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks that want the government to give them everything, then so be it.”

Yelton later said “there’s nothing I said that I would take back,” though he resigned his county GOP post as furor mounted.

N.C. GOP officials had a different view — and well they should. In a statement, they quickly disavowed Yelton’s comments, saying “the North Carolina Republican Party finds the comments ... to be completely inappropriate and highly offensive.”

We would also add that it’s not good for our state to be a running national gag. There’s very little difference between being a punchline and a punching bag.